


Finding Out (part 2)

by quicksilversquared



Series: Finding Out [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, because missing school was bound to catch up with them eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 03:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5650897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilversquared/pseuds/quicksilversquared
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an akuma attack forces Marinette to miss a class, she finds herself having to reveal her identity to one of her teachers. Adrien finds himself in the same situation months later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding Out (part 2)

Marinette sucked in a deep breath as she leaned against the bathroom stall. Tikki hovered in front of her. "I can't do this."

"Yes you can, Marinette!" Tikki said, hovering in front of her face. "Miss Bustier is nice! She'll help you. No one wants to make Lady Luck's life harder!"

"Isn't it dangerous, though? To have people know who I am?" Even if her parents already knew, actually telling someone about her superhero identity was, well, _terrifying_.

"Yes, but Miss Bustier already got akumatized, so it's not going to happen again," Tikki said eagerly. "And she can get the other teacher to go easier on you! If you or your parents asked for a bit of lenity, they wouldn't listen. But another teacher can just say that there's personal circumstances and they don't need any more information."

"Okay. I trust you, Tikki." Marinette took a deep breath. "Transform me!"

Moments later, Ladybug shot out of the bathroom and up to Miss Bustier's room. Since it was Friday, the building was empty and there was no one to see the red superhero land in front of Miss Bustier's classroom door and enter.

"You wanted to see me, Miss Bustier?" Ladybug asked, closing the door behind her. Her teacher sat at her desk, correcting tests with her back to the door.

"Yes, Marinette, you've been missing class more and more often, and today was the last straw." Miss Bustier finished the page she was on and started to turn, her voice stern. "You missed a test, and there's no possible excuse for-"

Pause.

"Surprise?" Ladybug offered up weakly.

Miss Bustier was frozen. "Marinette?"

"Yeah." With a flash, she transformed back, trying hard not to bite her lip. She didn't entirely succeed. "There was an attack, and I couldn't finish it up in time."

"Well, I.... I suppose saving the city is a good excuse for missing class." Miss Bustier slumped back into her chair. "Wow. I wasn't expecting that, but it does make a lot of sense. Wow. Okay. Yes."

Marinette watched nervously as Miss Bustier processed the new information.  There was a lot of blank staring going on. Blank staring was probably not good.

"Please don't tell anyone," Marinette begged. "It's really dangerous for me if a lot of people know."

"Yes, of course." Miss Bustier suddenly frowned. "That video you showed Alya, where your family was watching Ladybug?"

"Pre-recorded voices that my parents played while doing the filming."

The teacher gave out a sudden snort. "I can't say that you're not creative. That probably threw the entire city off of your scent." She let out a long sigh. "Okay. So I stand corrected- you _did_ have a good excuse for missing things. If you feel ready, you can take the exam now."

Marinette nodded. "Okay. I- just let my heart stop racing, I was so nervous about the whole reveal thing."

Miss Bustier laughed. "Of course. Take as long as you need. I.... will brainstorm how we can deal with your missing class while you do that, because I'm not going to penalize you for saving the city."

Marinette nodded and sat down in her normal seat, pulling out her pencil. Tikki was right. With Miss Bustier on her side, at least a couple of her classes were going to be a whole lot less stressful.

An hour later, Marinette handed the test in. She felt that it had gone really well, Lady Luck's luck (and her own studying) swooping in again. Miss Bustier smiled as she took the test and scanned the first couple answers.

"Okay, I have a few ideas for when you miss class," Miss Bustier said, setting the test aside. "I assume that whenever you go to the bathroom, it's actually for an attack?"

Marinette nodded. "Right."

"I can mark down what parts of lecture you miss and give you abbreviated notes after class. That way, you get what you'll need for tests but not the fluff."

"Okay."

"If there's an attack during a test, just write something that indicates as much on your test and hand it in then, and you can finish after school. And I'll talk to Madam Mendeleiev about giving you the same leniency without giving her specifics. Your duties as one of the city's saviors shouldn't affect your grades." She laughed. "Not a sentence I even thought I'd say. I'll hold on to your bag for you when you're gone, so I can slip the notes to you without the entire class noticing."

"That sounds great. Thanks, Miss Bustier."

\---

Adrien's stomach felt filled with lead as soon as the fight was over and he could think about that test that he had to fail in order to get there on time. He knew that he had awful, half-baked answers for nearly all of the questions, but he _needed_ to get out and help Ladybug. He could only wish that he was had been as confident on the test as Marinette, who had managed to crank out the test in maybe fifteen minutes and was out of the room before the akuma attack happened. He was going to fail the test, he knew it, and he hadn't even managed to study much for it because of two back-to-back photoshoots and then an akuma attack.

"You're quiet tonight, kitty," Ladybug said that night as they headed across rooftops. They called it patrol, but it was really more of a keeping in shape and practicing their fighting skills than anything else. "Cat got your tongue?"

"Very funny." He let out a long sigh. "The attack today was in the middle of a test and the only way I could get out was just to fail it outright. My father is going to be furious with me, and I'm worried that he'll pull me out of my school and make me get tutors again. He's been threatening to do that ever since I became Chat Noir and it started affecting my grades."

Ladybug looked surprised. Chat plowed on. "I just don't know what to _do._ Do...do you have any ideas?"

To his surprise, Ladybug stepped up to him and hugged him tightly. "I _do_ , actually. I had the same problems, except my parents...well, they know I'm Ladybug. I didn't tell them, they just _knew_. So they never had an issue with me missing classes, or my grades dropping. My teachers did, though, so...I showed one of them."

Chat blinked at her in surprise. "You _voluntarily_ told someone who you are?" He couldn't hold back the twinge of hurt and jealousy. She had never told _him_ who she was.

"It was that or face getting in a _lot_ of trouble and possibly being held back a year. I only told one teacher, and it was one who is _really_ nice. She managed to talk to my other teacher and persuade her to give me an easier time without giving specifics." She smiled up at him. "I just make up tests after school if there was an attack while I was taking it, and I get notes for lectures I've missed. I told her two months ago, and my grades have improved _so much_ since."

Chat let out a breath. At least the test he had failed was in Miss Bustier's class. She'd be safe to tell.

"How..." Chat cleared his throat. Ladybug was still _really_ close. He'd be distressed more often if _this_ was the result. "How did you tell her?"

Ladybug giggled. "Miss- er, my teacher asked me to come in after school because I missed a test, and so once everyone was gone....I just showed up as Ladybug and pretty much went 'So you wanted to see me?' and it took her a minute to realize that it was Ladybug standing there and not, y'know, regular me."

Chat had to grin at the picture. He could just imagine Miss Bustier's reaction if he did that. "I think I'll take a page out of your book and do that. I'm sure I'll get called in after that disaster." He groaned. "I can only hope that my teacher calls me in instead of calling my dad right off the bat."

"Hopefully my good luck will rub off on you," Ladybug joked, rubbing his arms.

Chat grinned and hugged her back. "Thank you for the advice, My Lady."

\----

Miss Bustier returned the tests the next day. She frowned at him as she handed back his test face-down, and he winced and peered under the paper too see scrawled in bright red, _SEE ME AFTER SCHOOL_ right next to his grade of 18/100.

_Ouch._

He had his Lady's advice, though, and she had already tried it and it had worked for her. He shoved the worry to the back of his mind and forced down the sick knot in his stomach. He had to focus on class now and just get through the day, or his distraction would cost him on the next set of tests.

Adrien stalled in the locker room after school while everyone milled around, then slowly filtered out. Nino clapped a hand on Adrien's shoulder before leaving. Adrien hadn't told him just how bad his test grade had been, just that his photo shoots kept him from studying enough and the test hadn't gone well.

Adrien slid through the empty hallways and into the bathroom to transform. He was lucky that the school was deserted, the nice weather meaning that clubs were meeting in the park instead of in the building. With a flash of green, Chat Noir slid out of the bathroom with the hated test in hand.

He was burning it after this. After talking with Ladybug, he had decided to study for the test again. Most of the reason his grade was awful was because he had no time to take the test, but there was an aspect of not having studied enough as well. Hopefully Miss Bustier would let him take the test over.

Chat Noir landed in front of the cracked door lightly and stuck his head in cautiously. Miss Bustier sat with her back to the door, but the room was otherwise empty. Taking a deep breath, Chat stepped in and repeated Ladybug's line. "You wanted to see me, Miss Bustier?"

"Yes, Adrien, I wanted to talk about your last exam because it was positively-" Miss Bustier turned around and froze before clapping a hand to her face. "Ah. Okay. That makes sense. I'll print out another copy of the test and you can re-take it now, if you have time?"

Chat blinked. "I was not expecting that to go so well. Wow. Okay. Yeah, I can retake it now."

"All right, Adrien, take a seat an- uh, you can transform back while I go get that ready." Miss Bustier headed out  as Chat Noir headed numbly to his seat and transformed back in a flash of light. That was too easy. She was surprised, yes, but he hadn't expected her to figure out that Chat was _him_ so quickly.

_It was almost like this exact same situation...had happened before?_

Miss Buster was back in minutes with a fresh test in hand. "We can discuss how to deal with this in the future after you finish your test, but don't worry about it for now." She handed the paper to him. "Just... out of curiosity, do you and Ladybug know each other's identities?"

Adrien shook his head and took the test, writing his name down. "No, we don't. She was the one who suggested that I tell you about being Chat Noir, though, since she's apparently done the same thing with her teachers."

As Adrien bowed his head to start his test, he missed the smile that crossed Miss Bustier's face as she tried not to giggle. _Oh, boy. What was the chance of having both of Paris' superheros in her class?_

\-----

As it turned out, it was actually very easy to keep Marinette and Adrien from finding out about each other. Adrien's busy schedule meant that for the few test retakes he had to do, he sometimes had to wait a day or three to finish his tests. Since they already had a system in place for Marinette, it was very easy to apply it to him as well- and it _definitely_ didn't hurt that he was always missing class at the same time Marinette was.

If nothing else, knowing the secret identity of both of Paris' superheros was a huge source of amusement. Everyone with eyes could see Marinette's crush on Adrien, and there were several videos of the superhero where Chat Noir's adoration of Ladybug showed very clearly.

It was a love square made of two people, and watching it was _hilarious._

**Author's Note:**

> Miss Bustier is basically the audience by the end of all of this. She totally ships Adrinette and sticks them together in groups whenever she can.


End file.
